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Monthly Archives: August 2014

Our society’s obsession with gendering our children and consumption has lead one woman to start the #FreeToWearPink campaign. Want to know more about it, and the history of gendered products? Check out the video below!

“Many Americans have a disconnected relationship with indigenous peoples: We’re fine as romanticized historical centerpieces and entertainment props, but mocked and ridiculed when we decry the materialistic use of sacred objects like headdresses or call to remove a dictionary-defined racial slur like redskin from the NFL lexicon.

The message is clear to Natives: You can feel honored, or you can shut up.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

There are ways you can honor us that don’t diminish the uniqueness of 566 federally recognized tribes down to a few, pan-Indian, stereotypical images that insult, degrade, and dehumanize my people.”

“Any thinking person should be able to recognize the hardships suffered by poor families. They’re less likely to have health insurance, even though they’re probably living in a less healthy environment. If they own a home, there’s an estimated 40 percent chance that the outstanding mortgage is more than the value of the home. They’re less likely to have a car, even though having a car has been linked to greater success and opportunity. They’re three times more likely to be victimized by crime. They’re under constant financial stress, with nearly half of them lacking the assets to support their families for even three months.”

“None of this is to say we can’t or shouldn’t care about ALS. Obviously, it’s a terrible disease and finding a cure would be an unquestionably good thing. But the idea that we as a nation care about the Ice Bucket Challenge even as much as we do about Ferguson — let alone far moreso — is incredibly disheartening.

We can care about both issues at once, and we should, but right now we’re caring way, way more about the thing that isn’t nearly as important. So by all means, donate money to ALS research — just don’t for a moment think that it absolves you of our collective responsibility to pay attention to and consider the ramifications of an infinitely more important story.”